HOW TO USE THE Brace Maker Jig

Step 1

**This jig will not accommodate brace stock that is wider than ½”(.50 inch) in size or a height of more than 1”. When cutting your brace leave the height about 1/4” taller than necessary. This will give you plenty of extra room for putting the radius on the bottom of your brace.

Step 2

Mark the center line on your brace.


Step 3

Turn the black knob counter-clockwise to unscrew and loosen the plastic clamping mechanism. Place your brace in the appropriate slot. One side is for the top radius and one side is for the back radius. If you are not getting enough clamping pressure to keep the brace in the slot, then put a dummy piece of wood in the opposite slot, and this will allow tighter clamping.

Step 4

 Line up the center line on your brace with the black knob. Push down the middle of the brace with your hand until it makes full contact with the center radius board. You can view the contact through the plastic clamping mechanism. Turn the knob clockwise to tighten the brace in position. At this point you will notice that the brace that is exposed has a slight concave arc to it. This is the radius that corresponds to the slot. The object is to make this exposed concave edge perfectly flat. You can use a straight edge to draw a line across the top of the brace. If you are unsure if you will have enough brace height when you are finished, then remove the brace from the jig and measure the height from the line just drawn to the top of the brace. Make sure the height is acceptable. Place it back in the jig. You could also just use a pencil to make shade in the center of brace, and when these marks are gone, the brace is complete. If you are using a table saw, then you may want to measure the distance from the edge of the jig that will ride against the fence to the middle of the brace. You then set the distance from the fence to the middle of the brace.

At this point, you can use a jointer, a belt sander, a small block plane, a table saw, or just sandpaper laid on a flat surface. Using a block plane, just plane down to the line as to create a flat surface removing the concave arc. When the concave arc is removed on the outside of the wood, when you release the knob, this flat surface will now have a radius.

Using a table saw, push the jig against the fence and make the cut. You will notice that this brace will be flat on this side.

Step 5

Step 6

To use a Jointer, just hold it against the fence and slide through until it is flat.

Step 7

Release the knob by turning it counter-clockwise. At this point you will have a radius made in the top of the brace(the area that was outside of the jig). If need be, you can always touch up the brace in one of our radius dishes with sandpaper in it. You can also use one of our Contour Radius Gauges to check for the correct radius.